STATE COLLEGE - Back in 1995, James Franklin was a graduate assistant at Kutztown University coaching wide receivers and making the paltry sum of $1,200.

"I filled soda machines up on campus," he recalled, "and the players used to make fun of me."

No one was laughing at Franklin Saturday after he received a six-year contract worth $25.5 million to become the 16th head football coach at Penn State.

The 41-year-old Franklin succeeds Bill O'Brien, who resigned Dec. 31 to become the head coach of the Houston Texans. He took a few moments Saturday to remember his humble coaching beginnings at KU, where he worked for Al Leonzi.

"I played with Al's son, Doug, at East Stroudsburg," Franklin said, "so he gave me an opportunity to coach there for a semester. It was my first shot, my first chance.

"I lived in the basement of a guy named Joe Ludwig and caught the coaching bug."

Franklin, a native of Langhorne, went on to make coaching stops at East Stroudsburg (his alma mater), James Madison, Washington State, Idaho State, Maryland, Kansas State and the Green Bay Packers.

Franklin served as offensive coordinator at Kansas State and Maryland before he became head coach at Vanderbilt in 2011. He guided the Commodores to a 24-15 record, three bowl games and two straight finishes in the Top 25 after they had won four games the previous two seasons.

"It wasn't an easy decision (to leave Vanderbilt)," Franklin said. "But we felt like this was a special opportunity, an opportunity where we could walk into a young man's home and offer the best of everything.

"(They'll have) an opportunity to get a great education and an opportunity to play for championships. That's what we're all about."

Franklin will receive an average salary of $4.25 million, which will make him the second-highest paid coach in the Big Ten behind Ohio State's Urban Meyer.

If he leaves Penn State, he'd have to pay buyouts of $5 million in each of the first two years, $2.5 million in the third year, $2 million in the fourth year and $1 million in each of the last two years. Franklin said he's not going somewhere else any time soon.

"This is my dream job," he said. "This is where I want to be. Wearing these colors, representing this state and representing these high school coaches is what I want to do for a very, very long time.

"Our plan is to go out and win a bunch of games so we can stay here."

Franklin and Penn State athletic director Dave Joyner addressed last summer's arrests of five Vanderbilt players, thought to be a sticking point in his hiring. Four of them were charged with raping a 21-year-old woman in a dormitory and a fifth pleaded guilty to helping cover it up.

Franklin dismissed all five players from the team shortly after their arrests.

"As the father of two daughters, that was the most challenging thing that I've ever been through personally and professionally," Franklin said. "But what I think came out through all of this and their background checks and all the information that they got is that we were honest."

Joyner said he and the Penn State search committee investigated the case thoroughly.

"This was maybe the most thorough vetting process of any search perhaps of any position at this university," Joyner said. "We utilized multiple independent third-party sources. We used contacts and people that know James closely.

"So my belief, without a doubt, is that James Franklin is a man of extremely high character. He answered every question forthrightly and with great honesty."

Franklin said he's likely to hire most of his Vanderbilt assistant coaches to his Penn State staff in the next coming days. He said he plans on meeting with the players tonight or Monday.

Even though he's been a coach for the last 20 years, Franklin said he didn't plan on making it a career.

"I didn't grow up wanting to be a football coach," he said. "I got my undergraduate degree in psychology. I wanted to get my doctorate in psychology or psychiatry and started to coach as a graduate assistant to pay for it.

"I realized I could have just as much of an impact on people and kids' lives through the game of football."